Around here, it's pretty much the same live baits as for Channel catfish! That would be bluegill, mudsuckers, carp minnows and shad. I use a Carolina rig (sliding sinker), same as for catfishing, but I use a much longer leader (22-24 inches)! I use a 8' mh ugly stick with a fast tip and strong backbone, again, the same as for channel cats! Liver is also a good bait for them, if your not in a school of shakers! My personal best for a striper is 23 pounds!

I imagine the weight is close to the bottom, I use the lightest possible. The two foot leader allows the live bait to swim around, though it's a good idea to give your line a tug once in a while to wake your bait up. Mud suckers will hide so it's good to stir them up too! A slip bobber rig is also very effective way to fish live bait and makes it easy to adjust your depth. Another excelent way is live lining with no weight. I gently toss my bait out and then feed line and let the bait swim itself out! For stripers, you generaly don't have to cast very far, in fact it's best from my expierience to be no more then 20 or 30 feet out. Even then you will get hookups 10 feet from bank in just a few feet of water! Hope that helps!:smile2:

Around here, it's pretty much the same live baits as for Channel catfish! That would be bluegill, mudsuckers, carp minnows and shad. I use a Carolina rig (sliding sinker), same as for catfishing, but I use a much longer leader (22-24 inches)! I use a 8' mh ugly stick with a fast tip and strong backbone, again, the same as for channel cats! Liver is also a good bait for them, if your not in a school of shakers! My personal best for a striper is 23 pounds!

Click to expand...

Same here. I have caught many stripers while fishing for flatheads with cut blue gill.

If you're in a boat, use your depth finder to find the fish. Use live shad and a carolina rig with an 18"-24" leader. I like to use a 2/0 octopus hook, but I'm sure others use something different. I've usually used 1 ounce egg sinker weights. If you see fish schooling on top, throw a spoon or a jig into them, and reel in the fish. They'll hit anything you throw at them when they're schooling.

Once you find the fish, (assuming you're using a boat) just figure out how deep they are and count "pulls" of line off your reel until you get to the proper depth and set your rod in the rod holder. A "pull' is grabbing the line at the reel, and pulling line out to approximately the first eyelet on the rod. Should be about 18". So, if the fish are 30' deep, you use 20 pulls to put your bait there. Anyway, if you bait up with a live shad, a striper will take it if he's in the vicinity.